Organizers of a Catholic Church-approved tour called a "highway to heaven" brought relics of Saint Carlo Acutis, who died in 2006 from leukemia at age 15 and was canonized by Pope Leo in 2025, to Melbourne. About 500 students, mostly teenagers, gathered at Antonine College on Wednesday for a mass honoring the saint known as "God’s influencer," where they viewed relics including pieces of Acutis's pericardium and strands of his hair displayed in metal reliquaries. Kate Hobbs, president of Friends of St Carlo Acutis Australia, highlighted how young people relate to Acutis for his use of social media and dedication to faith despite enjoying video games only one hour weekly.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-10,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
He’s at the centre of what organisers call a “highway to heaven” missionary visit to Australia, and posters of Carlo Acutis radiated the charisma of a pop star at a Melbourne school last Wednesday.
asserted
posters → ’ → school
With his tousled hair, gentle smile and red polo shirt, Carlo had the casual look of a singer like Ed Sheeran.
asserted
Carlo → have → Sheeran
And he’s not alive, at least physically.
asserted
he → ’ → ?
Carlo, who died of leukaemia in 2006, age 15, was canonised – declared a saint – by Pope Leo in 2025, and is known as the first Millennial saint and God’s influencer.
asserted
who → die → saint
Relics, meaning tissue from St Carlo’s body, are travelling around Australia in a Catholic Church-approved move to inspire people, particularly the young, to follow Jesus, do good, and cut back on video gaming.
asserted
Relics → mean → gaming
On Wednesday, about 500 students – most of them teens – attended mass in St Carlo’s honour at Antonine College, a Maronite Catholic school in Pascoe Vale South.
asserted
most → attend → South
They viewed the relics, kept in two 30-centimetre high metal reliquaries, that were displayed in the school hall.
asserted
that → view → hall
One contained pieces of the pericardium (the sac that encloses St Carlo’s heart), that were visible through glass.
asserted
that → contain → glass
The other contained strands of his hair.
asserted
other → contain → hair
After mass, students lined up to be blessed by the priest, Father Eli Yammine, and a nun, Sister Veronique Karam, who held the reliquaries over each child’s head.
asserted
who → line → head
At tables, students wrote prayers to St Carlo which will be sent to the saint’s tomb in Assisi, Italy.
asserted
which → write → Assisi
Carlo, an English-born Italian boy who attended mass daily, was known for using social media and websites to evangelise, promote volunteering and document more than 130 church-approved “Eucharistic miracles” – instances of bread and wine turning into flesh and blood.
asserted
bread → bear → flesh
He played video games only for one hour a week, so not to distract him from his faith or helping others.
asserted
He → play → others
After his death, two miracles – people surviving near-death illness or accident – were attributed to his intercession.
asserted
miracles → survive → intercession
Kate Hobbs, president of Friends of St Carlo Acutis Australia, a lay group taking the relics to 53 Australian cities in four months, said young people relate to St Carlo.
asserted
people → take → Carlo
“He challenges them, but he also gives them a hope and a way to come to God,” Hobbs said.
asserted
Hobbs → challenge → God
The way he lived could teach them there was room for spirituality in their lives, she said.
uncertain
she → live → lives
Last week, Hobbs took St Carlo’s relics to Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital, where she prayed with a seven-year-old heart surgery patient and her parents.
asserted
she → take → patient
The girl’s mother, who wanted to use only the name Joanna for privacy reasons, said her daughter had a “deep devotion” to St Carlo, and that the visit was special to her daughter because the relic was a piece of the saint’s heart “and she’s recovering from heart surgery”.
asserted
she → want → surgery
“It’s been a hard road and we’ve been doing novenas – a series of prayers – to St Carlo connected to my daughter’s deep devotion to him.
asserted
we → do → him
My daughter has been praying to him for her healing,” she said.
asserted
she → pray → healing
“To have that opportunity for the relics to visit her, with her unable to visit them herself, was very special.”
asserted
relics → visit → them
At the Antonine College mass on Wednesday, Larisa Kyriakous, 17, who with 14 classmates visited St Carlo’s tomb – which features a lifelike effigy – in Assisi last year, said the teenage saint inspired her.
asserted
saint → visit → her
“Growing up in a world that relies on technology, we get so distracted with what’s around us, I think we forget, as Christians, what’s really important,” Larisa said.
asserted
Larisa → grow → Christians
“His story reminds us that we, too, can be saints and that we’re all called to be saints.”
asserted
we → remind → us
Jacob Diab, 18, said that instead of using social media negatively, St Carlo used it to spread God’s word and to talk about miracles.
asserted
Carlo → say → miracles
Marvin Tabet, 16, said St Carlo was “a great guy”, whom he could relate to because he lived in recent times, was around his age and was into technology.
uncertain
he → say → technology
The final Melbourne events connected to St Carlo’s relics will be held this weekend at St Catherine of Siena Parish in Caroline Springs.
asserted
events → connect → Springs
The Aporia
